Geithner predicts long hardships ahead for America
How’s this for good news? Timothy Geithner, the secretary of the United States Treasury, says hardships will hit America for “a long time to come.” Now that’s not very positive, is it?
Speaking to NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, Geithner said that President Barack Obama saved the States from a second Great Depression but said it will be quite a while before people can actually feel a recovery. Alright, so the economy isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows right now. But it’ll get better soon, right?“It's going to feel very hard, harder than anything they've experienced in their lifetime now, for a long time to come,” said Geithner.Ouch.The secretary added that’ll take “something very big” and “very substantial” to bring the United States’ deficit back down to something manageable. These words mark maybe the harshest to come from the secretary in quite a while and come only days after rumors of a possible resignation began resurfacing. Speaking in Chicago with former President Bill Clinton last month, Geithner said he had no plans to resign and said he would remain in his position “for the foreseeable future.”With the future of America seeming uncertain, however, perhaps Geithner is only now sharing his true feelings on the state of the union as he prepares to bid adieu to the Treasury Department. Geithner added that something could indeed happen, but it will take agreements between the left and the right side of the aisle, something that might be easier said than done. “Both sides are going to have to make some compromises,” said Geithner. “And one thing to Republicans: We know this is very hard to do. But they should not walk away from trying to do something good for the country.”The state of Minnesota shut down ten days ago after the Republican legislative body was unable to strike a compromise with the Democratic governor over the state’s spending. Over 20,000 state workers stand to be laid off as a result.Speaking from the White House’s rose garden on Friday, President Obama seemed slightly more optimistic about the future of the nation’s economy, but said he believes that we indeed “still have a long way to go.” His speech came hours after the unemployment figures for the month of June were released, signalizing yet another increase. The latest statistics say that 9.2 percent of Americans filed for unemployment benefits last month.
